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==Pieces of Work Influenced By Eliot and The Waste Land== | ==Pieces of Work Influenced By Eliot and The Waste Land== | ||
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'''Wilfred Owen''' [[Image:Wilfred owens.jpg]] | '''Wilfred Owen''' [[Image:Wilfred owens.jpg]] | ||
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==Music Artists and Songs Influenced by ''The Waste Land''== | ==Music Artists and Songs Influenced by ''The Waste Land''== | ||
| − | One of the apt ways in which the legacy of ''The Waste Land'' has lived on has been through the medium of music. | + | One of the apt ways in which the legacy of ''The Waste Land'' has lived on has been through the medium of music. T.S. Eliot once remarked that ''The Waste Land'' was merely "rhythmical grumblings." While it arguably has many qualities that take it beyond sheer "rhythmical grumblings," many a songwriter has found a connection with T.S. Eliot's rhythmic, piecemeal style of poetry. ''The Waste Land'' has invited artists to, in the words of Eliot, "communicate" with poetry before "it's understood." |
| − | + | ===Pop Music and ''The Waste Land''=== | |
| − | '''Bob Dylan''', influenced by Eliot's lines as well as Eliot's style, released the eleven minute song, "Desolation Row" not long after T.S. Eliot's death. The song, filled with allusions and borrowed "broken images" has a modern, mosaic style reminiscent of Eliot's ''The Waste Land.'' | + | *The influential American singer-songwriter, artist, and writer '''Bob Dylan''', influenced by Eliot's lines as well as Eliot's style, released the eleven minute song, "Desolation Row" not long after T.S. Eliot's death. The song, filled with allusions and borrowed "broken images" has a modern, mosaic style reminiscent of Eliot's ''The Waste Land.'' |
<blockquote><videoflash type="vimeo">11222889</videoflash></blockquote> | <blockquote><videoflash type="vimeo">11222889</videoflash></blockquote> | ||
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| − | '''Frank Turner''' in an interview found in the "Perspectives" section of ''The Waste Land'' App spoke on Eliot's influence on his song writing: " I wasn't a poetry lover until I met Eliot... I hadn't grasped how devastating poetry could be until I came across Eliot... Reading Eliot gave me a kind of sense of ambition in what one could achieve through words" | + | *The popular English folk-punk singer '''Frank Turner''' in an interview found in the "Perspectives" section of ''The Waste Land'' App spoke on Eliot's influence on his song writing: " I wasn't a poetry lover until I met Eliot... I hadn't grasped how devastating poetry could be until I came across Eliot... Reading Eliot gave me a kind of sense of ambition in what one could achieve through words." |
| + | Frank Turner has three songs directly influenced by Eliot's poetry: | ||
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| + | *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ahJwZGLbU The Fisher King Blues] - T.S. Eliot incorporated elements of the Arthurian legend of The Fisher King into ''The Waste Land.'' | ||
| + | *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRuE1bk1Lus Journey of the Magi] - Turner based this song off of Eliot's poem of the same name "Journey of the Magi." | ||
| + | *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3eM2R1aCKQ I Knew Prufrock Before He got Famous] - This song is a reference to Eliot's second most famous poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." | ||
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| + | *British musician '''Polly Jean Harvey''' 's stated Eliot's poetry as an influence on her 2011 album ''Let England Shake.'' Many of the lyrics seem to identify with the same feelings of turmoil, war, and darkness expressed by Eliot in ''The Waste Land.'' | ||
| + | [http://jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.com/2011/02/pj-harvey-ts-eliot-and-paul-nash-in.html One blogger] has suggested Harvey directly referencing lines from ''The Waste Land'' in her song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDblL441DxM On Battleship Hill] containing the lyrics "Jagged mountains jutting out/ Cracked like teeth in a rotting mouth" which read similar to lines 338-9 in ''The Waste Land'': "If there were only water amongst the rock/ Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit." | ||
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| + | * To name a few more-'''Van Morrison,''' '''The Pet Shop Boys,''' '''Chuck D,''' and '''Thom Yorke''' are a few additional artists that have marked influences in their music tracing back to the poetry of Eliot. | ||
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| + | ===British Punk/Rock Bands Influenced by ''The Waste Land''=== | ||
| + | Many British punk/rock bands of the late 20th century and early 21st century have identified with and been influenced by the pessimistic tone and mosaic, allusion-filled style of Eliot's poetry. A few worth mentioning: | ||
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| + | *'''King Crimson''' is a progressive rock band that began in London in the late 1960s but became a transatlantic band in the 1980s. Their 1999 album ''The Deception of the Thrush'' carries allusions and influences from Eliot's poetry as well as specific references to ''The Waste Land.'' | ||
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| + | *'''Hot Chip,''' a British electronic music band directly quotes Eliot's famous line "April is the cruellest month" in the opening of their song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mATrenootCA Playboy] released in 2004. | ||
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| + | *'''Amebix''' is an English crust punk/ heavy metal band that dealt with themes from ''The Waste Land'' in their music. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYEcjcvLVXE Drink and Be Merry] is an example of the allusions to a modern waste land and allusions to WWII. | ||
==Derivative Works== | ==Derivative Works== | ||
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[[Image: The Waste Land Cover 9.jpg]] This is the cover of The Waste Land as an audiobook, published by thoughtaudio.com. | [[Image: The Waste Land Cover 9.jpg]] This is the cover of The Waste Land as an audiobook, published by thoughtaudio.com. | ||
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| + | Each of these covers is pretty different, but some of them have a common theme; a barren landscape. Even though the poem is titled ''The Waste Land'', is this an appropriate rendering of the poem? Certainly everyone will have their opinion on this, and I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong answer, but I don't think a picture of deserted wilderness is exactly relevant to this poem. In my reading, I found ''The Waste Land'' to be about people and their interactions with each other. I don't think these landscapes reflect that part of the poem. It has been suggested that Eliot is making a point to say that we need to be generous again and rediscover our empathy; these covers do not reflect that part of the poem. They do, however, accurately reflect the aftermath of a war-torn land. War brings devastation and ravages the land, leaving it scorched, but as the poem says, the land will breed lilacs out of the dead ground again, even after the terrible fighting. These covers depict the first part of that cycle, but not the rebirth and struggle afterwards. ''The Waste Land'' is about combining the past and the future, mixing ancient and modern, but these covers only show one side of that. | ||
===Art Galleries=== | ===Art Galleries=== | ||
